Monthly Archives: February 2014

Cyber crimes and cyber attacks have taken a professional shape unlike traditional hobby based exercises. Now we have well organised crime syndicates that try their hands on anything that is lucrative and profit making. The latest to add to this list is the Bitcoins. The Bitcoins users are facing increased cyber attacks around the world and stealing of Bitcoins has become a normal phenomenon these days.

The Bitcoin exchanges around the world are facing numerous challenges. These include challenges from the point of view of laws, technical aspects, cyber security, etc. In India the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued an advisory cautioning Bitcoin users and Bitcoin exchanges of India of potential legal and security risks.

Cyber criminals have also realised the significance of Bitcoins as a potential virtual currency of the future. They have been using novel methods to steal Bitcoins from innocent users. In the absence of appropriate cyber security awareness and inadequate cyber security safeguards, Bitcoins ate stolen very frequently.

Third party applications are now bundled with illegal Bitcoins miners. .Recently, the E-Sports Entertainment LLC (ESEA) entered into a consent judgment for creating ESEA Botnet and violation of U.S. laws. Cyber criminals have also infected hundreds of thousands of computers with a malware known as “Pony” to steal Bitcoins and other digital currencies.

Thus, cyber security of Bitcoins exchanges and personal computers of Bitcoin users holding their virtual currency is a real challenge. Let us see how this highly volatile virtual currency would survive the sophisticated cyber attacks in the future.